The Moment I Knew - Andrea's Story

Ophelia Bryant 1923

In a way; it’s my first year blogging coming
full circle. I started my blog on May 30, 2011 and now I literally just went to
my Google reader and saw your post come out 4 minutes ago and I know for sure
that for the rest of my life, this genealogy thing ain’t going away. Now before
this, I knew when I was child that the image of my great grandmother Ophelia
Bryant meant something. What does it mean to mean something? I think it means
that no matter what goes on in your life, no matter what distractions may come
up and try to take you away from something that is so part of your truth, no
matter what, you will come back to it. For me, it has always been that picture
of my great grandmother Ophelia hanging in my grandmother’s bedroom. That picture meant family. It meant
connection. It meant I was part of something greater than myself and I had a
duty to share that with others.

Mary Horton and Andrea

My grandmother, Mary Horton, was special as
was so many of the sweet cast of characters I got to know as family as I was
growing up. I was so blessed as a child to have 3 grandmothers. You see, my
mother’s parents divorced when she was young and my grandfather Lemuel Harrison
remarried and had 3 additional children. He had two from his first marriage. My
step-grandmother, Vadnie Harrison, was like the cherry on top of an extremely
good sundae. So much love, so much positive motivation to be passed down to my
brother and I. Somewhere within me, I think I just archived the emotions, the
connections and memories, somehow knowing that what I felt should be passed
down to those that followed. It was too good to just keep to myself.

Lemuel Harrison and Andrea

Then life stepped in as it always does and
puts things on the back-burner. I went to college away from home. I made new friends
and had many adventures. I decided to make my life in upstate NY after I
graduated from college, away from those strong memorable roots that I had been
blessed to be given to get my life started on the right track, as opposed to
the wrong, as happened for some in my family.
I started a career. I got married and had my children. Always in the
background, was that picture of Ophelia, lying quietly waiting. She knew. I
don’t know how she knew, but with the simple gesture of taking a picture with
her then six month old daughter in the spring of 1923, she knew she was
igniting a fire.

Well I carry that fire now within me.
Through my blog and the through the connections I make through it, well, that
fire keeps growing. I don’t know where this is going to take me but somewhere,
wherever my great grandmother is, I know she is smiling.

Meet the Storyteller - Andrea Kelleher

Andrea Kelleher is a
stay at home mother of two from Johnson City, NY. Her longing to want to know
more about her roots stemmed from seeing a portrait of her great grandmother
that hung in her maternal grandmother’s bedroom when she was a child. She began
doing her research on her family tree in July 2009. She chronicles her
discoveries on her blog, “How Did I Get Here? My Amazing Genealogy
Journey.” Her roots predominantly come from eastern North Carolina with her
closest ties to Carteret and Craven counties.

You may ask why the name
“How Did I Get Here? My Amazing Genealogy Journey”? She says, “The name
is a constant reminder to myself that I stand on the shoulders of all those
that came before me. All those choices, sacrifices, hard work, and
struggles for survival are all part of my DNA and my spirit. I feel a
connection to my ancestors and I feel a duty to share these discoveries about
them.”

An inspiring, truly emotionally-rich story of getting hooked on your family history. The photo of Ophelia shows a woman of dignity and beauty. These ancestral photos, taken before people took thousands of pictures with their digital cameras, stand out for the way they capture the image of how the subject wanted to be portrayed. It's always interesting to me how some of us are instantly captivated by these photos and want to know more and others often can't be bothered. A beautiful post in every way. Thank you for sharing.

I really like the way you say, "I just archived the emotions, the connections and memories." That is so true to life. I've done that with several relatives in my past . . . and when I meet them again, or even just think back to them and go over memories, they are still there. Solidly there. This is a kind of meaning that goes past death. Thank you for writing this beautiful post.

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